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Comelec grants Tañada's petition to nullify rival's proclamation

TOBY TAÑADA. The Comelec rules in his favor and voids his rival's proclamation. Photo from Tañada's Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines (Updated) – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Saturday, June 29, granted the petition of lawyer Wigberto "Toby" Tañada Jr to credit to him the votes cast for a disqualified bet that shared his surname, and nullify the proclamation of his opponent Angelina "Helen" Tan as Quezon 4th district representative.

In a resolution promulgated at 10 am Saturday, the 2nd Division of the Comelec ordered the Provincial Board of Canvassers of Quezon to credit all votes received by disqualified bet Alvin John Tañada to Toby Tañada, the brother of outgoing Deputy Speaker Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III, and proclaim the true winner of the recent midterm elections afterwards.

Alvin Tañada received a total of 7,038 votes. Once credited, Toby Tañada will end up with a total of 87,736 votes, overtaking Tan's 84,782.

Comelec cancelled Alvin Tañada's certificate of candidacy (COC) for lying about his residency qualifications. He claimed he had been a resident of the town of Gumaca for 24 years, but Comelec later found he had not even resided in Quezon for a year.

By that time, however, Alvin Tañada's name had already been printed on the ballot.

In an earlier statement, Tañada said: “As clear as daylight, the only conclusion one can draw from this is that Alvin John Tañada was fielded to cause confusion among the voters, make a mockery of the electoral process and thwart the will of the people."

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